Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday approved the "immediate" construction of 300 settler homes in the occupied West Bank as his government came under pressure from right-wing Jewish groups.

Israeli police detained a Palestinian militant leader on Monday for questioning over his travel to Jerusalem, a police spokeswoman said, a day after he was freed from prison in a deal ending an almost two-month-long hunger strike.

Tens of thousands marched in Tehran and Baghdad today in annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day demonstrations in support of Palestinians, but Saudi Arabia this year joined arch-foe Israel as the target for protesters.

Israel and Palestinians marked one year since last summer's war in Gaza on Wednesday, with Hamas's armed wing boasting of new missiles at a late-night rally and tens of thousands of residents still homeless.

Israel will issue a report on Sunday arguing its 2014 Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings of a UN war crimes investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as a waste of time.

On a backstreet in Jerusalem sit the sparse offices of B'Tselem, an Israeli organisation that has long been a bane of successive governments, tirelessly flagging military abuses in occupied Palestinian territory.

The city known as China's centre of Christianity, Wenzhou, has launched a crackdown on Communist Party members with religious beliefs, the local government said, following tighter regulation of church buildings.

Pope Francis met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, today; calling him "an angel of peace," days after the Vatican said it was preparing to sign its first accord with Palestine to the anger of Israel.

A Jerusalem court Tuesday authorised Israeli rabbi Yehuda Glick, who survived an attempt on his life after calling for Jewish prayer rights at Al-Aqsa mosque compound, to visit the flashpoint holy site.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced on Monday he would not join the new government being formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the coalition was not sufficiently "nationalist".